A Gracious Act Changed a Young Person’s Life.

A young man comes up to a Rabbi at a wedding and introduces himself and the Rabbi replies, “Ah you were my student in the third grade. Haven’t seen you for a long time. What’s happened to you? What are you doing now?”

“Well, I am a teacher just like you.” the student replied.

“What inspired you to become a teacher?” the Rabbi enquired

“It was you.” The student replied.

“How did I inspire you to become a teacher?” the Rabbi asked.

“I saw what an impact you had on me, and I realized what an impact I could have on children, so I decided to go into education,” the student replied

“What impact did I have on you?” the Rabbi asked.

“You remember.” the student replied.

 “Remember what?” the Rabbi asked.

“I stole a watch in the class and another student reported that to you. You then asked the class, that, whoever took the watch, to give it back. No one responded. Then you locked door and asked everyone to stand against the wall and to close their eyes and went on to search each chap’s pocket. You found the watch in my pocket, took it out and continued to the end of the line. When we opened our eyes, you gave the watch to the rightful owner and said nothing more. When I thought of how you saved my dignity that day instead of embarrassing me in front of the whole class as a thief, as a liar, as a no gooder, as a despicable child,  you said nothing. You saved my soul, you saved my dignity. You did not mention this to anybody else, not to the owner but not even to me. Not once. It happened, it was over, I understood the message, and when I looked at that I said, this is what a teacher is, this is what a real educator is, this is what I want to be. Therefore, I went into education.” The student explained.

“Amazing.” the Rabbi responded.

‘But Rabbi, don’t you remember the story, when you see me and hear my name. When I stole the watch and what I did and what you did. You did not want to embarrass me with everyone’s eyes closed.” The student asked

“I would not know, I would not know who took the watch,” the rabbi said

“Why not, it is a pretty dramatic story,” the student said.

The Rabbi responded, “because I also closed my eyes.”